Shane Osborn on Budget & Economy

Free enterprise is the key to national prosperity

Question topic: Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.

Nation can grow out of fiscal woes by expanding the economy

The Republican candidates gave a glimpse during the first debate of the campaign of their plans to get the federal budget under control. Ben Sasse says entitlement reform is the only way to achieve fiscal stability. Shane Osborn says the nation can grow
its way out of its fiscal woes by expanding the economy.

The candidates were asked how they would work with Democrats to reduce the deficit. Sasse said both Democrats and Republicans in Washington have to understand that much of the nation's debt is
the result of the growth in entitlements. However, Sasse did not say what entitlements he would cut or how he would go about changing Social Security and Medicare. "We're guilty of generational theft," said Sasse, president of Midland University in
Fremont.

Osborn also indicated that he would support entitlement changes, but he did not give any specifics. "We have to grow the economy. It's the only true way out of it," said Osborn, a former Navy pilot and former state treasurer.

Combat spending instead of kicking the can down the road

Shane Osborn says he opposes this week's bipartisan budget plan, suggesting it "will only continue to pile on debt and further hinder economic recovery."

"With a national debt of more than $16 trillion and current spending levels that are
utterly unsustainable, the time to address the federal budget crisis is now," Osborn said in a news release. "Once again, Washington is kicking the can down the road rather than getting serious about combating spending," he said.